The Sin Eater's Daughter Review

TITLE: The Sin Eater's Daughter
AUTHOR: Melinda Salisbury
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 2/25/2015
FORMAT: ARC
PAGES: 320
SOURCE: Amazon Vine
MY RATING: 


INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she's engaged to the prince, none of the lords or ladies ever speak to her. Because Twylla isn't exactly a member of the court.


She's the executioner.

As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each week, she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla's touch, avoids her company.
But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet, Twylla's been promised to the prince and knows far too well what happens to people who cross the queen.

However, a treasonous secret is the last of Twylla's problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies--a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I wanted to like this book so bad. It started out and I was a little confused by all of the strange character names and kingdom names, but I figured I was adjust to it. I'm not much of a fantasy reader and I sometimes have trouble with fantasy books because of the strange names and overly descriptive passages. I did adjust a little bit, but it was still a little difficult for me not to zone out when the passages were describing some of the gods.


In my opinion, this book was so boring. Nothing was happening. I had heard that there were people who loved this book, so I kept pushing myself to read on telling myself that it must get better if so many people like it. The plot started to pick up (sort of) about 2/3rds of the way through the book, but even then it was slow moving. There were some twists with the plot and we learn things that, at least for me, didn't even cross my mind as a possibility, but I was still pretty bored with this book. I need more things to happen and more action.


CHARACTERS: I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Maybe it was because I was so bored with this story line that I just didn't pay attention to the characters, but they just fell flat for me. I feel like I didn't really know anything about anyone.


COVER: The cover of the book is so beautiful. It's part of the reason why I pushed myself to keep reading. I figured if a book could have this pretty of a cover, it has to be good, but unfortunately that wasn't the case for me.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review**

Nothing But The Truth by Avi Review

TITLE: Nothing But The Truth

AUTHOR: AVI

PUBLISHER: Scholastic Inc.

PAGES: 177

MY RATING: 1.5/5

BACK COVER BLURB: Ninth grader Philip Malloy has one thing on his mind: running. When a failing English grade keeps him from joining the track team, he believes his teacher, Miss Narwin, has it in for him. One morning during announcements, he disregards the school's policy of observing "The Star-Spangled Banner: in respectful silence and hums along, hooping to get transferred out of her class. Little does he know that his minor infraction will make him the subject of national media attention. What truly happened that morning in Miss Narwin's class? Examine the events and reach your own conclusion. But--can you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I did not enjoy this book at all. The only reason I finished it was because it was short and a very quick read. The plot angered me and the story never really went anywhere. I just feel like more could have been done with the storyline. It was boring and nothing got accomplished.

COVER: I do like the cover of the book. I love that it's simple and that they used the word to The Star Spangled Banner in the form of a flag; I think that's pretty clever.

CHARACTERS: Philip was an okay character. I understand that he is young and doesn't fully grasp the severity of the situation, but I feel like he could have spoke up at the end of the story. I did not like Philip's dad. It seems like this whole situation could have been avoided if Philip's dad did not push him so hard to talk to their neighbor when obviously Philip was reluctant to do so. I also did not really enjoy the character of Miss Narwin. I feel like she should have tried a little harder to stand up for herself instead of just rolling over and taking it.

*I won this book in a contest at www.teenreads.com